star clusters are at the heart of astronomy, being key objects for our understanding of stellar evolution and galactic structure. observations with the hubble space telescope and other modern equipment have revealed fascinating new facts about these galactic building blocks. this book provides two comprehensive and up-to-date, pedagogically designed reviews on star clusters by two well-known experts in the field. bruce carney presents our current knowledge of the relative and absolute ages of globular clusters and the chemical history of our galaxy. bill harris addresses globular clusters in external galaxies and their use as tracers of galaxy formation and cosmic distance indicators. the book is written for graduate students as well as professionals in astronomy and astrophysics.